When She Said Hello
by LilyoftheValley4
Summary: Michael Vaughn has finally found Sydney after she's been missing for two years, but what happens when neither of them make it to the airport, and one of them doesn't make it at all?
1. Retrieval

A/N: Alright, I know you all are probably tired of stories that take place after "The Telling" but this one is definitely different. I've just read so many different versions that I thought I should write my own, with it's own original twist so please R/R!

P.S. And for any of you were reading my other story, The Death of Sydney Bristow, I would like to inform you that it is now finished. I was just hoping that I could get some people to review it because no one has since I've finished it, and I would really appreciate any comments. Thank you!

When She Said "Hello" 

Sydney Bristow held took in a deep breath and turned away from him. All of it was too much; the ring, two whole years… None of it made sense anymore.

            "Sydney, say something, please," Vaughn begged; unable to allow her quiet tears to fill the silence.

            Sydney looked at Vaughn with empty hallow eyes. This was the man she had always been able to talk to. Always been able to tell her deepest fears, and yet she didn't want to talk to him. She remained silent. 

            "Sydney? Please?" Vaughn asked again, his eyes pleading. 

            Sydney just looked at him with sad eyes and shook her head. She didn't want to talk about what they could have had, or how things could have been different if he wasn't married. All of it was too much, and the idea of talking about it was emotionally exhausting. 

            Vaughn stood up keeping his back to her, but he understood. "There's a car waiting out front; waiting to take us to the airport." Sydney stood up slowly and walked out the door that Vaughn was holding open. Sydney's hand briefly touched his own, and Vaughn felt something electric pass through him. He wanted so much to take her in his arms. He hadn't seen her in two years. Two years of thinking she was dead, and he wasn't even allowed to touch her.

            Vaughn followed Sydney out to the awaiting CIA issued car. He opened the car door for her, and she stepped in. Vaughn walked around the front of the car, and got in the driver's seat, which was located on the right side of the car. He started the car and they were on their way. Neither of them said a word, but about a half an hour later he noticed that her expression was one of worry.

            "Vaughn, how long has that car been behind us?" Vaughn checked his rearview mirror, and realized that this car had been following just a few feet behind them for the whole ride, which was weird because the road they were driving on was two lanes. If the car had wanted to pass them, he could have done it long ago. 

            "For a while," Vaughn said tersely. He moved into the right lane. The other car followed. He moved back into the left lane, and the car again followed. "He's following us, Syd." He glanced over at her, and she looked incredibly nervous. 

            "Can you ditch them?" She asked.

            Vaughn looked around. In front of him and behind him were miles of open road, and a median in the middle of the road separated cars traveling in his direction from those traveling in the opposite direction. 

            "I don't think so," Vaughn replied taking another glance into his mirror. The car was now picking up speed; trying to get next to them on their right. Vaughn in turn accelerated, but the smaller car trailing them was built for speed, and this CIA vehicle wasn't. The car was now right next to them, and the back window was being rolled down.

            "Vaughn!" Sydney cried out. The person in the back was wearing a ski mask and holding a gun that was pointed directly at Sydney. Vaughn scrambled into his pocket and pulled out his gun, passing it to Sydney. She climbed into the back so Vaughn wouldn't be hit and lowered the window. 

            The person from the other car fired and Sydney ducked as the bullet penetrated the window on the opposite side of the car. Sydney aimed for him but the bullet was just reflected off the window. _Crap, _she thought, _bullet proof windows._ That made hitting the driver impossible. 

            He aimed for her again, and ended up spraying her with shards of glass. She rose up again, but instead of aiming for the gunman, she aimed for the tires. She hit the front one, but it didn't deflate. _These guys are serious, _she thought. _They've invested in those re-inflating tires. _The gunman aimed for her while she was shooting for the tire, and managed to hit her left hand. She cried out in pain. 

            "Sydney? Are you okay?" Vaughn asked anxiously, while trying to turn around to see her for himself. 

            Sydney's hesitation towards her injured hand turned out to be fatal. The gunman next to them aimed and fired, hitting Sydney right in the temple. Sydney fell back against the backseat; Vaughn's gun fell to the floor. 

            "Sydney?" Vaughn called. "Sydney?!" Vaughn reached up and lowered his mirror until he caught sight of Sydney's body. "Oh my god, Sydney," Vaughn whimpered. He couldn't take his eyes off of Sydney's body. He felt his heart exploding. Suddenly he did hear something exploding, but it wasn't his heart. The car next to him had shot out his two left tires. 

            Vaughn's vehicle began to shudder on the two blown out tires, and he began to skid. Vaughn slowly applied the brakes, but the car still turned a full one hundred and eighty degrees before it stopped. The vehicle next to him also came to a stop next to his own. Vaughn stayed where he was in his seat. He couldn't move. He was paralyzed. Whoever these people were, they had just ruined his life.

            Two years Sydney had been gone from his life, and within the last hour, he was able to reclaim her, only for her to be taken away once more. He watched blindly as the driver and the gun stepped out of their car, armed, and approached him. Vaughn's mind was screaming at him, telling him to reach for his gun, but he just couldn't do it. 

            Both the driver and the gunman were wearing ski masks. They both approached the driver's side cautiously, and only one pulled open the door. Vaughn's instincts were telling him to do something, _don't let it all end now_, but he couldn't. He just couldn't move. He stared emptily at the person in front of him. The masked man aimed and fired, as something hit Vaughn in the stomach. It was painful, but not as painful as he thought a bullet would be. Vaughn's vision began to blur, and soon the accident before him disappeared, and all thoughts of the events that took place within the last hour were gone. __


	2. The Truth is Out There

A/N: Thank you to all who reviewed! I hope you enjoy this next chapter. Please R/R!  
  
Chapter 2  
  
Michael Vaughn moaned. He felt like crap. He was incredibly groggy and his mouth was dry. He heard commotion around him as he began to stir, and seconds later, he felt a cool comforting cloth being placed on his forehead. Vaughn slowly lifted his eyes open, and seconds later found himself looking into familiar brown hair and eyes.  
"Sydney," he whispered. His eyes began to adjust to the dim lighting within the room, and in doing so the woman above him became more pronounced. She looked different; older some how. Almost like.Irina Derevko. Vaughn sat straight up and stumbled off the cot that he had been laying on. Vaughn frantically reached inside his coat pocket trying to find his gun but it wasn't there. Irina Derevko stood.  
"Relax, Agent Vaughn," She requested very calmly.  
"Where am I? Why have you brought me here?" Vaughn demanded.  
"You were in an accident, Agent Vaughn," Irina explained slowly. Memories began to flood Vaughn's consciousness. He remembered the car that had been following them. The shooting. Sydney lying dead in the backseat.  
"You killed her. You killed your own daughter!" Vaughn said angrily. "How could you do that?"  
Irina looked at him sadly. "It wasn't easy, trust me. She looked so much like her."  
Vaughn looked at her with disgusted surprise. "Looked like her? It was her! You just shot your own daughter! You took away my only source of salvation! Don't you feel any thing?"  
Irina Derevko looked at Vaughn angrily as she stood up and approached him. "Don't you dare say that I don't feel anything, Agent Vaughn. I care for my daughter a great deal, more than you're understanding right now." Irina took a deep breath. "The person in that car with you was not my daughter. She was a double."  
Vaughn looked at Irina in surprise. "A double? But project Helix was destroyed."  
"Sloane has the intel now to manufacture Helix machines if he wanted to," Irina stated matter-of-factly. Vaughn's eyes narrowed.  
"How do you know that you didn't just kill the real Sydney?"  
"Because the real Sydney is wearing my earrings."  
Vaughn glared at Irina Derevko. "You've known all this time where Sydney's been and you didn't once thing to contact the CIA?"  
Irina shook her head in disappointment. "Agent Vaughn, you know what Rambaldi was working on; trying to obtain immortality, this what."  
"Rambaldi?" Vaughn sputtered the name out with venom. "This isn't about some fucking dead fortune teller who was trying to achieve immortality. This is about Sydney."  
Irina regarded Vaughn with a sort of calm frustration. "You're right, it's all about Sydney. Agent Vaughn, why do you think you're here?" Vaughn froze, unsure of how to answer that question.  
"I brought you here to bring Sydney back. I know the extent of Sloane's research and how close he is to completing it, and I won't let daughter help him in any way," Irina paused.  
"But if that's true," Vaughn said slowly, "why have you allowed Sydney to be gone this long?"  
"This may seem harsh to you, Agent Vaughn, but I needed to obtain all the data I could from Sloane so I could find Rambaldi's secret."  
"You think that I should help you get Sydney back so that you can achieve immortality?" Vaughn scoffed. "It's better off in the hands of Sloane!"  
"Do you really think that?" Irina asked him. "I'm not guaranteeing that I'll use the intel that I've acquired. The purpose is really to get rid of Sloane's chance of becoming immortal and to get Sydney back where she'll be safe."  
"Why should I help you at all?" Vaughn asked. "How do I know you won't betray me as you've done to others?"  
"That Agent Vaughn, I can in no way convince you that my words are true. It's your risk, but the reward is great."  
Vaughn looked closely at Irina Derevko. Under any and all circumstances this is a woman that he should not trust; a woman that had murdered countless people, including his own father. Irina had betrayed Sydney and her family so many times that Irina's loyalty to anyone was questionable. Vaughn's indecision was haunting, but he knew the only decision he could make.  
"Alright, Irina. I'll do it, for Sydney."  
* * *  
"ETA?" Jack Bristow asked the extraction agents.  
"Two minutes, Sir." Jack watched the screen in anticipation. He wanted to know what had happened. Vaughn's mission was for him to find Sydney and bring her back, but he had not been on the flight home and was completely unreachable.  
"It's not looking good, Agent Bristow," Agent Farley reported. "It looks like there's been an accident."  
"Switch to camera," Jack requested. Seconds later, a CIA issued car came into view. It looked okay aside from the fact that it was empty and parked in the middle of a highway. "Move in closer." Agent Farley stepped forward and Jack became anxious as he noticed bullet holes in the windows and two blown out left tires.  
Agent Farley continued forward towards the vehicle and stepped close enough so that both he and the camera were on the left side of the car. The windows were tinted in a dark grayish color, so seeing anything inside was impossible. Agent Farley took a gloved hand and pulled open the driver's side door. It was empty. He then moved his way to the back passenger seat and pulled open the door on that side.  
The sight that met the eyes of both Agent Farley and Agent Bristow was ghastly. Sydney Bristow lay strewn across the seat, a large bullet whole placed neatly in her temple. Her head apparently had been leaning against the left side door because not only was it thickly stained with blood, now Sydney's head was hanging over the seat. Her eyes were opened, but they were glazed over in a look of shock. The rest of the car was not in good condition either. Most of the back of the car had blood splattered somewhere among the leather upholstery of the vehicle. Bullet holes left their mark in the windows, and a gun lay on the floor right behind the front passenger seat. Jack Bristow wanted so much to turn away and not look at the remains of the girl in front of him that had once been his daughter, but he just couldn't. This was the first time he'd seen her two years. Two years of thinking that she was dead, and then she calls. To Jack the idea that she was alive was reassuring, but still not believable until he got to see her face. He was so close to seeing her again.and then this. It wasn't fair. Jack threw down his headphones and stopped away from the computer. He walked into the nearest conference room and shut the door. He sat down in the closest chair and placed his head in his hands. He never felt his heart break in such a way as it was now. Even when he'd found out the truth about Laura, the pain hadn't been this great. Sydney was dead. Vaughn was missing. What was going to happen next? 


End file.
